Global fashion industry likely to touch $2.5 tn in 2018

The average revenue for the global fashion industry is expected to rise between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent in 2018, to a total of $2.5 trillion, says a recent report. The industry’s profit margin (before taxes) is projected to hold steady at 10 per cent. The growth will mainly be driven by emerging markets such as Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

The global fashion industry is on track for continued growth in 2018. The emerging markets in Asia (India, Vietnam, China, etc.) are likely to achieve revenue growth of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent in 2018, while their European counterparts (Romania, Russia, Turkey, etc.) will be slightly behind at between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent. By way of contrast, the mature markets in North America and Europe will grow only 1 to 3 per cent, according to The State of Fashion 2018, a new report published by The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.

“In 2018, more than half of revenues in the global fashion industry will come from new markets in the East than long established markets in Western Europe and North America,” said Imran Amed, founder and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion (BoF). “This is an important symbolic tipping point as business leaders across the industry continue to gear themselves up for growth, amidst a backdrop of rapid flux where new technologies, new consumers and an unpredictable macroeconomic environment continue to challenge leaders to rapidly shift their strategies and operating models.”

As per the latest analysis from the McKinsey Global Fashion Index, the top 20 per cent of fashion providers earn a total 144 per cent of the industry’s value increase. “The best companies grow faster and more profitably. That is a massive contrast to the vast but basically unprofitable middle section of the industry and the poorly performing bottom fifth that is actually destroying value. The fashion industry will always be an industry where ‘The winner takes it all’,” said Achim Berg, senior partner at McKinsey and expert in the fashion and luxury goods industry.

In 2018, the fashion business will be impacted by various global economic developments including Asia’s now pioneering role in technological innovation, the report stated. “Fashion is still lagging behind other industries when it comes to using artificial intelligence. It has acknowledged the significance of AI, however. Twenty per cent of the fashion executives surveyed believe that artificial intelligence will be important in future as a means of reinventing design, merchandising, and marketing,” added Berg. (RR)